Tutoring's Challenge
by awsomecat3352
Summary: When a new student comes, not just for regular studying purposes, Negi learns that tutoring her might be a bit more than he expected. Even though her inability, he senses strong magic coming from her. What is the magic energy and why can't his new student access it? Also, dark energy follows her to Japan along with a new child wizard who wants to be Negi's rival.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I do not own Negima?! Magister Negi Magi.**

**Prologue**

A girl with bright, bubblugum pink hair sat with just a calico kitten for company in a dark room. All that was in there was the table ther were sitting at, a bed, a dresser, a bookshelf filled with magical aid books, and a desk with a computer. The kitten rubbed up against the girl's hand to cheer her up.

She looked at her with a smile, but it was obvious that she was holding back tears because one accidently slipped out. Outside of the doorway, she could hear voices. They said things like, "Stupid girl," "She's been held back for five years now," and "What will the dean do with her?"

After a while, the door opened and the dean walked in. She was a pretty, young woman in a suit top and pencil skirt. She looked really strict, but her smile and the warmth in her eyes told the pink-haired girl different. Suddenly, the smile disappeared.

"Carmen. This is getting ridiculous. I don't know what else but to do this," the dean sighed, handing her a slip of paper. 'Negi Springfield, Mahora Academy,' is what was writtened on the paper.

"Negi Springfield?" Carmen asked.

"He's a mage that is studying in Japan. He is the son of thousand master and said to be very strong. He'll be your new tutor," the dean explained.

"But none of the other tutors worked!"

"I'm hoping that a kid near your age will work better for you," the dean explained and sighed. "I really hope this works. I want a report back every month on your progres, ok?"

Carmen nodded, and the dean left the room, closing the door. All she could do was stare at the little sheet of paper. The calico slipped out from under the table. She licked her paw lightly, bringing it over her ear, and mewed, "There's something I don't like about her. I just can't put my paw on it."

Carmen fiffled, "You worry too much, Star." She touched the star-shaped patch on the kitten's forehead.

"I'll keep my ere out anyway," Star said. She padded past her. "Well, you better start packing if you want to leave for Japan as soon as possible." Carmen stared at her. Then she nodded and smiled.


	2. Chapter 1-Introductions

**Disclaimer: I do not own Negima?! Magister Negi Magi.**

**Chapter 1**

Normal POV

"Asuna! Get up!" Konoka exclaimed.

"Just a few more minutes," Asuna whined sleeply. She turned around lazily.

"She really is impossible to wake up," Negi said in her british accent and smiled.

"Came on, Asuna!" Konoka yelled. Then she turned and told Negi, "You can go on ahead. It would be really bad if the teacher were late on the first day back."

"I guess so. Are you sure you'll ve avle to wake her up?" Negi asked as he walked towards door. As he opened the door, he saw a girl with almost all of her hair was in a huge ponytail on the left side on her head and a sword, Setsuna, bowing down.

"Good morning, Miss Konoka, Professor Negi," she said in her monotone voice.

"Good morning, Setsuna. Ah! I just remembered that I was suppose to meet with the dean and Takamichi before classes started," Negi recalled. Before running off, he told the girls with a smile, "I'll see you later girls." He walked down the hallway as Konoka returned to trying to wake up Asuna.

Soon, Negi saw Nodoka and turned just a bit happier. _I think she's even cuter today than I've ever seen her,' _he thought. "Nodoka!" he called to her.

She blushed when she heard Negi's voice and turned to see him hurrying toward her. "Oh, Professor Negi! Good morning!" Nodoka responded. As usual, she was carrying a book. It was one she had recently discovered at Library Island. It was a magical book that she wanted to show to him. It might help him in quest to find his father.

As he walked up beside her, she stuttered, "I-I found a b-book. It has l-lots of locating sp-spells." Nodoka hid her eyes and thought, _That was lame, me. I should've said something that would've started more of a conversation._

Nodoka handed him the book, and her face turned totally red when their hands touched. She looked down, into Negi's eyes and saw that he was blushing, too. They suddenly snapped their heads away from each other, and Negi took the book kind of forcefully.

"Th-Thank you, Nodoka! I'll look at it later, but I've got to go somewhere right now," Negi said and ran off, still blushing. By the time he got to the dean's office, he wasn't blushing, but his heart was still beating a mile a minute. He sighed to try to calm it down. After that, he entered quietly.

"Ah, Negi. Your here," Takahata said with his usual smile.

"Good morning, Takamichi!" Negi exclaimed as he stepped up a little before the dean's desk. It looked like he was thinking about something. "Dean, you wanted to speak to me about something?"

He looked up and said, "Ah! Yes! Thank you for coming, Negi. It's about an extra task in your wizarding training."

_Extra task?_ Negi thought, confused. He didn't think most wizards got an extra task.

"A dean from a magic academy in America has a student that is having some troubles learning magic. She asked for my help, and I told her about you. I must say that she seemed quite interested. Would it be alright for you to tutor this student?" the dean explained.

"Of course!" Negi responded. He would be getting another student! He wondered what she would be like. He imagined a scary deliquent and shivered. He shook his head to get the picture out. "S-So, when will she be here?"

As soon as he finished his question, there was a knock at the door. "Ah, that should be her," the dean said. then he called for her to enter.

Negi heard the door creaked open and asoft voice said, "Thank you." A small girl with bubblegum pink hair entered and she already had her school uniform on. Even though she was as tall as he was, she had a huge chest. She ws very cute. Her bright blue eyes were a perfect match for he pink hair. Her sweet voice was soft and relaxing even though she seemed nervous.

"My name is Carmen Lovedin. Thank you for tutoring me," she said, holding her bag in front of her with both of her hands.

"Welcome, Carmen. I'm Negi Springfield. I'm delighted to meet you, Carmen," He responded, smiling. She stared down at her feet. She was obviously shy which Negi thought was even more cute. "Well, we should be going to class now. We don't want to keep the class waiting any longer."

Carmen nodded and followed him out of the dean's office and down the hallway. the whole way, she didn't say a word. Finally, when they were almost to the classroom, she finally spoke. She asked, " Um, Negi, do you know if there is a piano here?"

Negi stopped to think about it. the he answered, "Well, I'm not quite sure myself, but there might be one in the music room." He smiled back at her. Carmen blushed and stuttered, "Th-Thank you!" She smiled.

* * *

Negi's POV

When they got to the classroom, both Carmen and Negi could hear different voices. They were mostly Asuna's and Ayaka's daily arguement leaking through the door. Negi just smiled, but it looked like Carmen was unsure about entering.

After Negi entered, the arguement stopped with Ayaka's outburst of, "Oh! Professor Negi!" She turned around, away from Asuna, and bent down to be eye level with him. her long, blonde hair looked brighter and softer than usual.

_She must be excited about entering high school, fixingher hair like that,_ Negi thoguht as he smiled. He walked toward his desk in the front of the classroom. Everyone of his students headed back to her own seat so the first day of class 4-A's day could begin.

"First, I would like to introduce a new student to our class," Negi said. As he said that, he guestered to the door for Carmen to enter.

As she did, the whole class seemed to move so they could see her better. When she rinally reached the spot beside his desk, Negi asked, "Why don't you introduce yourself?"

Carmen nodded and said. "Hello, my name is Carmen Lovebin. I am from Cherokee Village in Arkansas, but I moved to California before I came here. Thank you for accepting me into your class." She sounded like she had rehearsed it. She was stiff, but everyone welcomed her joylously.

Negi gave a nervous laugh and told her where her seat was. Then the day went on as normal. He had decided not to tell them about Carmen being a wizard until he needed to. He would tell a few of his partners about her so they could help but just a few. He knew he would tell Asuna and Konoka since he lived with those two and Nodoka and Yue since she was going to live with those two. he would also tell Setsuna and Kaede. He choose Setsuna since she protected Konoka, and Kaede because she was good at keeping a secret. Then twins and Haruna would have to be told because Fuma and Fumika were always with Kaede and Haruna was best friends with Nodoka and Yue. Now that he thought about it, he was telling a lot of people, but he thought this was a good amount to start with. He didn't want to overwhelm her on the first day. Then he remembered he would have to ask Evangeline if he could use the area around her house for his training sessions.

After he finished thinking about all of that, he noticed Asuna was staring with a concentrated look. It was normal for her not to read but unnormal for her to be concentrating on one thing silently.

"Is anything wrong, Asuna?" Negi asked. At this everyone raised their heads from their books.

Asuna stood up and exclaimed, slamming he hands on her desk, "Yeah, there is! You've been really quiet today!"

"I'm afraid I don't know what you mean," Negi responded, confused. _Was I really acting that differently?_

"It's like you're troubled about something!" Asuna said.

"I've noticed this too," Ayaka spoke up.

"If there's anything up, you know you can tell us about it," Haruna added.

"It was nothing. I was just thinking about lesson plans," Negi answered, holding up his hands to calm them down. It wasn't nessicarly a lie.

After that, the day went on as normal. At the end of the day, Negi called, "Asuna, Konoka, Setsuna, Nodoka, Yue, Haruna, Fuma, Fumika, Kaede, Evangeline, and Carmen, I need you to stay after class for me."

All but Carmen looked shocked, but as the rest of the class packed up quickly and left, those eleven packed slowly then crowded around his desk.

"So what did you want to talk to us about?" Asuna asked.

"We're not in trouble, are we?" the twins cried together.

"Don't be ridiculous! Who would get in trouble on their first day of school?!" Evangeline commented in her english accetn, flipping her long, wavy, blonde hair.

"Says the girl who normally doesn't come to class," Yue said through the straw of one of her strange drinks.

"Shut it!"

"You know, Evangeline, I'm suprised that you even came to school today," Kaede commented, standing behind the twins.

"You shut it, too!"

"My master simply thought it a good day to come, being the first day of high school," Chachamaru said with that lifeless voice a robot should have. She had stayed behind with Evangeline as she always followed her around.

Negi smiled, and Haruna asked, "So, what did you want to talk to us about?"

"Well, I needed to talk to Nodoka and Yue first," Negi answered.

Nodoka and Yue's heads perked up a little to show that they were paying attention, and Yue stopped sipping on her drink. "What is it, Professor Negi?"

"Well, since all the girls' dorms are full, I wanted to ask you two if you could all Carmen to stay with you until a room becomes availible?" Negi asked with a sparkly smile. He didn't really mean to make it sparkly, but that's what it looked like to Nodoka and Yue. They couldn't refuse it and blushed.

Nodoka hid her blush and eyes behind her bangs. Yue didn't try to hide her blush behind her nags since hers weren't long enough, but she did try to hide it by casually sipping her drink and saying, "Sure."

"O-Of course. I d-don't m-mind," Nodoka stuttered, still not looking at him.

"Thank you, both of you. I'm sure Carmen is very grateful to you, too," Negi said, looking back at Carmen who hadn't said anything yet. she was looking out the window in a dreamy sort of way. "Carmen?"

She snapped her head around panicky as everyone was looking at her. "Yes! Thank you!" she said in english.

"Carmen?" Negi asked, blinking at her mistake even though he could understand her.

"Ah, sorry!" Carmen exclaimed, returning to speaking in repeated what she ahd just said in Japanese and apologized some more.

"No biggie," Asuna said, non-chalalntly.

"Yeah," Konoka, Haruna, and the twins agreed.

"We know it can be hard learning a new languauge," Kaede responded with her usually smile filled with knowledge and understanding.

Yue's response was a sip of her oddly flavored juice with a straight face, her own sign of acceptance, and Evangeline just scowled at the door, saying that she wanted to leave already. Carmen smiled at their acceptance of her.

"Now onto the new that concers all of you. Carmen is a wizard coming here from America so i can tutor her on magic, and I need your help with keeping her training a secret until Carmen decides to tell," Negi explained.

Everyone gasped, even Carmen. She cried, "Negi! Why would you tell them that?! That's supposed to be a secret!"

"Don't worry, gir," Haruna said.

"Yeah, since everyone in this class is already patners with Negi," Konoka added. First, Carmen just gaped. After she thought a bit, she blushed.

"S-So, th-that means th-that you've all kissed him?" she asked.

They all looked at each other. Then Nodoka, Yue, Asuna, Negi, Fuma, and Fumika blushed deeply. Haruna was the first to speak again. She said, "Well, yeah."

"I guess so," Kaede responded calmly. Again, Setsuna, Evangeline, and Chachamaru didn't say anything. Evangeline slightly blushed and turned her head to hide it.

Carmen stared at Evangeline for a bit then she returned to her previous thoughts. "How can you be so chill about such a thing as k-k-kissing?" she asked, stuttering.

"Well, can you really say that counted as a kiss?" Haruna aksed. "I mean, he was only ten."

This upset both Negi and Carmen. "So, if he was the same age of you, you would consider it a real kiss?" she asked.

"Well, yeah."

_It's gonna be a long year, _both carmen and Negi thought.

* * *

**Sorry it's so long. I like writing a lot, so most of the chapters in my stories will be long.**


	3. Chapter 2-Carmen's view on 4-A

**Disclaimer: I do not own Negima?! Magister Negi Magi.**

**Chapter 2- Carmen's view of 4-A**

Carmen's POV

Carmen sat in her classroom, bored. She had already finished her work and doubled checked it. Now, she had nothing else to do. She decided to pull out a piece of paper and write a letter to her dean at the magical academy in California. She wrote:

_Dear Dean,_

_I'm on my second day at Mahora Academy. YOU DIDN'T TELL ME THAT NEGI TAUGHT HERE?! Seriously, a kid teacher. What has the world come to? Anyways, everyone in his homeroom class are his partners, and I'm almost positive that three of girls in class have fallen for him. What a slick kid, right? I mean, he's only eleven._

_Now, onto the class. First of all, there are two girls that rarely come to class. I think that their names are Evangeline and Chachamaru. Evangeline is as tall as Negi and has a british accent like him, and Chachamaru has weird entana-like ears._

_Next, the girls that sit on my right are too strange, even for a wizard like myself. Their names are Mana Tatsumiya and Zazie Rainyday. Isn't Rainyday such a weird name? I think she's American, too. Anyways, Zazie's name is only the beginning of how strange she is. She looks like a clown but acts totally emotionless, and she rates people's jokes with points. Now, Mana is kind of scary. she's emotionless, too, but she brings her guns to class. Am I the only the one that finds that weird?_

_After them are my roommates. The first one is Nodoka Miyazaki, and she is pretty sweet. She's really shy and loves books. She's in the Library Island Exploration Club. How big is Library Island anyways? Nevermind that, my second roommate's name is Yue Ayase. She's pretty emotionless, too, but she is a bit nicer than Zazie and Mana. She drinks some weird juices, but she's really nice to Nodoka and me. She's also part of the Library Island Exploration Club, too. Seriously, how big is Library Island?! Anyways, these are two people who know I'm a wizard._

_Then I guess I'll do Negi's roommates. Asuna and Konoka both seem really hyper. Asuna's really active while Konoka seems happy-go-lucky. They both seem pretty nice anyways. From what I know, they were one of Negi's first partners along with Nodoka. Asuna likes to mess with Negi, but that's because he slips into her bed since he says that she looks like his older sister._

_I guess I'll finish the people who know I'm a wizard. By the way, Zazie and Mana don't know. The next two are twins named Fuma and Fumika. They act very childish even though they say they want to be called adults. Other than that, they are pretty cute._

_Next is their friend and her roommate, Kaede Nagase and Setsuna Sakurazaki. They both seem kind of like ninjas. I mean, they both have katanas (Japanese swords). Setsuna is always around Konoka._

_Finally, the last one that knows is name Haruna Saotome. She is very carefree and laid back. That's pretty much all there is to say about her. Now, her roommate is another story. her name is Fei Ku; I think she's Chinese. Anyways, she is hyper-active, imaginative, and loves martial arts. Sometimes, she seems like a monkey._

_Well, the rest are kind of weird, too, but I won't go into them right now. All you should know that there is a ghost in this class. Well, that's all I wanted to report this time. Write you next month._

_Sincerely,_

_Carmen Lovebin_

* * *

**NyaChi: Let's just say that this has got to be one of my favorite chapters so far because you get to see the real Carmen. Well, bye. **


	4. Chapter 3-The First Day of Training

**Disclaimer: I do not own Negima?! Magister Negi Magi.**

**Chapter 3-First Day of Training**

Carmen's POV

Today was the first day that Carmen would start her magic tutoring and let's just day she was anything but excited. She was sitting in her class, already finished with all her work again. There was still about an hour until class ended, and time seemed to be moving a little too fast for her.

Carmen wrote down all the spells she knew how to pronounce perfectly, which was about fifty or something like that. Anyways, it was a lot. She was good at remembering things whenever she read it several times, but that didn't mean she was any good at magic just because she knew how to pronounce the spells perfectly. Carmen pulled out a doodle of her beginner's wand. It wasn't long after that the bell rang, ending school day for everyone else.

"Carmen, Asuna, Nodoka. Could I see you?" Negi called for them. Only them and the others that were asked to stay after class the other day knew what Negi wanted. Konoka smiled at Asuna and her before she left with Setsuna, and Yue whispered "Good luck" to Nodoka and Carmen. Then everyone else left.

Asuna, Carmen, and Nodoka made their way to Negi's desk. He smiled at them and said, "Well let's get going to Evangeline's."

"Um, if you don't mind me asking, why are we going to Evangeline's room?" Carmen asked

"Ah, Carmen. You don't know Evangeline doesn't live in the dorms, like everyone else does," Negi explained.

Carmen was surprised and still confused. _Why doesn't she live in the dorms?_ she thought. _I know she's kind of rude, but she's not too bad when you look past that. _The whole way there, she was thinking about why Evangeline would live in the woods but still on school grounds if she wasn't going to live in a dorm. Finally, they arrived at a small cottage.

Negi went up to the door and knocked. Then he called, "Evangeline?"

After a while, the door never opened, and Asuna yelled, "Hey, Eva! Where are you?"

Then Chachamaru walked out from behind the cottage. She was wearing a kimono. She bowed then said, "Sorry for the delay. We were having a tea ceremony."

"Oh, sorry to disturb you then. I just wanted tell Evangeline that we were here," Negi explained.

After that, Evangeline came out from behind her house. She, too, was, wearing a fancy kimono, and her hair was tied up like Chachamaru. She also had an extremely annoyed expression plastered on her face. Carmen wondered if that look actually even left her face. She always seemed to be annoying about something. Still, despite her annoyed look, Evangeline looked quite beautiful and cute.

"If you didn't want to bother us, you could've gone on with your silly tutoring lesson without coming here to tell me," she said, sounding extremely unfriendly.

"OH, well, ok," Negi responding, laughing nervously. "I just thought you would want to know."

Just get on with your tutoring and leave me alone," Evangeline said, waving a hand to dismiss them, and returned to the tea ceremony behind her cottage. Then Chachamaru bowed and followed.

"She's just as fiery as ever," Asuna commented on the british-sounding girl's attitude.

"But Asuna, you're about the same as her," Nodoka responded. "Only twice as violent."

Asuna just laughed at what her shy classmate had said. It seemed if Negi ever said something offensive to her, she would click and start violently picking on him, but she would just laugh it off if it was classmate that siad something offensive.

Asuna and Negi's relationship was too complicated. One moment, she was teasing and hurting him, and the next, she actually seemed to be taking care of him and looking after him. With most of his students, it was easy to see what that girl thought of him. Nodoka and Yue obviously have feelings for him. Evangeline was denying her feelings. Fuma and Fumika admired him since he was adult-like even though he was os young. Haruna and Kaede saw him as just a kid that was their teacher. All of these were obvious to Carmen, but Asuna was different. She seemed to have all these things she sees Negi as. It was almost as if she was a combination of his big sister and his friend.

"Well, we should get started," Negi finally said, clapping his hands together. When his two partners that were there nodded, the moment that Carmen had dreaded came.

"Ok. I brought beginners' wands for Asuna and Nodoka. I thought we could start with some low level spells," Negi said. He showed them a short demonstration. "Now, you try it, please."

As Asuna and Nodoka practising, Carmen pulled out her own wand. It had the head of a cat on it. When Carmen looked towards the woods, she spotted a calico kitten with a star-shaped patch on her forehead. It winked at Carmen, and she smiled at it.

"Carmen?"

"Huh?" Carmen said, turning around to face her kid teacher.

"Are you ready?"

"Oh, uh, yes," she responded. Carmen closed her eyes and held her wand out in front of her. She said the spell and hoped that it would work.

* * *

Negi's POV

Negi watched as Asuna, Nodoka, and Carmen tried to preform the spell. Whiel nothing happened with Asuna and Nodoka, a thick cloud of smoke came from where Carmen was. From somewhere in the middle of the smoke cloud, there was light coughing that grew louder as the smoke cleared.

When Carmen could be seen clearly, her face was almost as pink as her hair with embarrassment. "I-I-I'm sorry," she stuttered. She didn't look any of them in the eye.

"It's okay, Carmen. Let's try some more," Negi said.

"Yeah. You're bound to get it eventually," Nodoka added.

"You did better than us. At least something happened," Asuna exclaimed.

"Well, Asuna. The spell would work if you pronounced it correctly," Negi stated.

A vein popped on Asuna's forehead, and her hair moved to look like one. "DID I ASK YOU, NEGI?! YOU ARE SUCH A LITTLE KID!" Asuna exclaimed, rubbing her fists into his head hard.

As soon as Asuna calmed down a bit, they started practising magic again, they being Asuna, Nodoka, and Carmen. The same thing happened every time Carmen tried to cast a spell, no matter what spell it was. The strangest thing was that every time she tried to cast a spell, Negi felt the presence of very powerful dark energy.

_It couldn't possibly coming from Carmen, could it? Is it just my imagination? _Negi thought.

After a while and enough smoke to suffocate the planet, Negi thought that it might be best to stop for the day since Evangeline came out several times already to complain about all the smoke. Plus, it was already getting dark.

"Why don't we stop?" Negi asked.

"Sure!" Asuna yawned. "I was getting tired." She stretched and turned to Nodoka. "You ready to go, bookworm?" she asked.

"Um, sure," Nodoka responded.

* * *

Carmen's POV

As Asuna, Nodoka, and Negi headed back, Carmen spoke up, "Would it be alright if I maybe stay behind for just a little while longer? There is something I would like to try," she lied.

Negi stopped for a moment. Then he responded, "Of course. Do you want me to stay with you?"

"No. I'll be fine on my own. Thank you though. I'll only be a moment," Carmen said, smiling.

For a minute, Negi looked unsure, but then he smiled back and nodded. Then he, Asuna, and Nodoka left Carmen by herself, unknowing of the calico walking toward their new classmate and friend.

"You all finally finished," the cat mewed. "I thought you would never stop."

"You could've come out when they were here, you know, Star," Carmen said, giggling a bit.

"Nah. Didn't feel like it," Star responded, licking her front right paw daintily.

"So, why did you arrive so late?"

"I had something to talk about to someone in Whales only to find out that he wasn't there," Star sighed and put her paw down. "I see you're still as bad at magic as ever."

"Thanks for the confidence booster," Carmen mumbled.

"Whatever. We should get back. You told that little kid that you wouldn't be long," Star said. Her tail laid down in a straight lina in front of her." Lead the way, please."

"that little kid is Negi, and he's my teacher," Carmen sighed, starting to walk toward the dormitories.

"I thought that might be the case here."

"And you never bothered to warn me at all."

Star didn't answer her while she continued padding beside her human friend.

Suddenly, Carmen got a very bad feeling and stopped. She looked around, the wind blowing through her bubblegum pink hair. She couldn't shake the feeling.

"Carmen?" She looked forward at the kitten who was a few feet ahead. "What's wrong?"

"There's something wrong," Carmen commented. "Can't you feel it?"

There was a brief moment of silence. Then Star sighed and said, "I don't feel anything. Your purrobably imaging it."

"Sure, that's it," Carmen said, unsure. She continued walking behind Star, casting around worried glances every once and a while. After a little bit, Carmen once again stoppen because the feeling was almost unbearable. She leaned against the tree as she tried to locate the souce of the feeling.

Suddenly, a rustle came from the tree. While Carmen looked upwards, for some reason, Star looked downwards. She realized what they were standing on a little too late. "Carmen! It's a-" she was cut off by something unknown to Carmen.

"Star!" Carmen called out, but something pinned her against the tree. A figure walked towards her that she couldn't see in the dark. Soon, she recognized this as a spell. Before Carmen knew it, the person was up on her and pressing his/her lips against Carmen's. Her eyes widened as the ground around them warmed and glowed. _A pactio circle! _Carmen thought in alarm. In the light, she could see the boy clearly now. He had light brown hair that up in all directions. He was wearing short jeans, a white shirt, and a bright red jacket. After he finally stopped, he whispered, "Pactio." His voice sounded naturally playful.

"See you later, Carmen," the boy said. Then he stepped back and seemed to be swept off his feet into the wind.


End file.
